There are various circumstances under which a male subject may desire the permanent enlargement of the length and/or girth of his penis, in both its flaccid and erect states. Penis enlargement may be desired for medical reasons, for example, if a patient is unable to penetrate during coitus due to an unusually small penis size; for cosmetic reasons; or to improve a man's self-esteem.
There are numerous examples of devices that generate real tissue growth by generating and applying biologically significant forces to tissues of the human body. Examples are the tissue expanders used to expand the skin to cover areas of tissue loss in plastic and other cosmetic surgical procedures. Also, traction devices are used for limb lengthening to stimulate the natural tissue remodeling that occurs during the actual growth of other body parts. In orthodontic dental treatments, biological forces are used routinely to stimulate true tissue remodeling and growth.
There have been several attempts to create a safe and effective means for achieving permanent penis enlargement, including the use of external weights, traction devices and suction devices, as well as pharmacological therapies to use the nature veno-occlusive mechanism to generate biologically significant forces within the penis to cause penis growth. The use of external weights is cumbersome and generally impractical and produces localized compressive forces that may cause localized ischemia. Furthermore, use of weights often leads to a thinning of the penis and may even impair penis function. In addition to weights, traction devices have also been tried. For example, the “PeniStretcher™” device is one such device, which uses a rigid frame and springs to generate mechanical forces to the penis. Several disadvantages are inherent to the design of these mechanical devices. Some of these problems are described as follows:
The mechanical devices invariably have rigid parts that are bulky and hence protrude out from the body and cause bulges even if they are covered by clothing. Thus, they generally cannot be discretely concealed by clothing and the wearer of such a device cannot freely go about his daily activities. Since the effectiveness of these devices is generally directly proportional to the duration of time these devices are worn, limiting the amount of time that these devices can be worn limits the duration and effectiveness of these devices.
These devices also tend to be unidirectional since their basic designs functionally create forces that are unidirectional, i.e. the direction of the vector of the forces they generate is relatively static and directionally restricted in terms of the angulation of the vector which represents the way the forces they generate in the penis are applied relative to pelvic bones on the body. For example, weights are generally only functional when the man is standing and generate a force acting downward. When the “PeniStretcher” device is attached to the body, the penis is usually pulled out unsatisfactorily horizontally away from the body, and parallel to the ground when standing. In contrast, a device that allows the direction of the forces being applied to the penis to be re-directed relative to the pelvic bones allows more precise control over how the mechanical forces acting on the penis would stimulate the growth and remodeling in the penis. By changing the direction of the forces acting upon the penis there would be increased control over how those forces were distributed within the penile tissues and how and where the growth occurred could be more accurately controlled. If the penis is manually pulled in different directions a man can feel majority of the force being isolated to different fibrous bands within the penis to the pelvic bones. When the penis is pulled, for example by manually grasping the head of the penis to the right or left, or up or down and if the man palpates the structures under tension inside the penis using his free hand, he can clearly feel that as the direction of the applied tension changes, entirely different fibrous regions/structures within the penis are put under tension while adjacent regions structures feel lax and unstressed as the direction of the force he applies to the penis changes.
Further, the forces provided by these prior art devices cannot be easily or simply varied. With the “PeniStretcher™” device or with typical weight systems, when the device is applied to the body there is no way to precisely control and to maintain that same level of force consistently over a relatively long period of time. Further, the ability to alter the forces being generated to the penis in a defined measurable way is not possible for the currently available devices. In contrast, a device that could have the forces readily changed would provide an advantage.
Yet further, the use of metals and other rigid materials used in the fabrication of these prior art devices have a substantial mass to them which is maximal in the weight systems that use mass and gravity to generate the forces acting on the penis. This is present in all the devices currently on the market Physical activities that involve movement or change of direction generates potentially harmful accelerative forces to the penis since these devices are attached to the body of the user. Hence, there are significant restrictions on the types of physical activities performed by the wearer when using these devices. A lightweight device that generates forces that are a small fraction of the therapeutic forces created by the device under maximal accelerations of the body, such as jumping and sudden stopping, will allow the user unlimited physical activity when using a device with minimal weight to such a device.
Suction devices are also cumbersome and impractical to wear on a prolonged basis, have limited effectiveness, and pose a number of risks. Suction devices produce localized compressive forces that may cause localized ischemia. Vacuum seals with pressure over 20 mm Hg can obstruct capillary flow and inhibit tissue perfusion. Suction devices often come with warnings that the devices should not be used for periods exceeding 20-30 minutes, which may be insufficient to achieve the desired result. Use of suction devices can also result in the thickening of the skin and accumulation of fluid in the superficial layers of the skin and subdermis. The skin of the penis is hypermobile, and only very loosely connected to deeper connective tissues and structures that comprise the erectile tissues of the penis. The skin of the penis can readily separate from the fibrous connective tissue capsule, which encloses the erectile tissue of the penis when externally applied suction forces are applied to the penis.
Also, any suction forces applied to the penis has a proportionately larger effect on the skin, and the forces on the deeper structures diminish dramatically. The increase in the surface area of the skin causes the suction forces to be applied mainly to the skin, not to the erectile tissue and the surrounding capsule of the cavernosal tissue. As a result, the skin can be thickened as fluid is extravasated and there is typically no, or only a limited enlargement, of the underlying erectile tissues of the penis. Use of suction devices may also cause the separation of the skin from the subdermis and the formation of seromas or blisters on the penis. The application of suction devices to the penis may also cause the extravasation of red blood cells out of the vascular spaces and into the extracellular compartments. If vacuum devices are applied for extended periods of time, this may lead to a significant pigmentation of the penis. Also applying a suction device repeatedly may cause the deposition of large amounts of iron and other hemoglobin degradation products in the tissue of the penis causing hemosiderosis, which ultimately results in fibrosis. Furthermore, erectile dysfunction may result from prolonged use of these devices.
There is, therefor, a need for a penis enlargement method and device, which do not suffer from any of the aforesaid disadvantages.